There are many ways to help improve your health like eating healthy food, taking exercise and getting medical help. But the best way is just to sleep eight hours or more every night. The general sleeping rule is that the younger you are, the longer sleep you need. The problem with sleep is that more and more people in the world are not sleeping enough.
According to the WHO, over half the people in the world may be sleep-deprived (睡眠不足的). Having less sleep not only makes people feel tired but also causes accidents. In the United States alone, sleepy drivers cause at least 100,000 traffic accidents a year. Also sleep problems can cause medical problems such as high blood pressure.
Why are so many people sleep-deprived? Part of the reasons may be cultural. In American culture, people put a higher value(价值) on work than on sleep. Also, you can sometimes hear some people say proudly that they don't have much time to sleep. They only sleep four or five hours a night. It seems that the less you sleep, the more work you'll do.
How do we teach these people to learn the value of sleep? Perhaps they may listen to the advice of Dr. James Maas, an expert in sleep. He says, "Sleep is like a credit card(信用卡). When you sleep less, you are only borrowing time. You always have to pay it back."
Don't think you will do less work because you sleep during the night. That is a foolish(愚蠢的) idea. You'll be able to do more.
① foolishness ② tiredness ③ traffic accidents ④ medical problems
